


The Glasses

by anthfan



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, post ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 07:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10432209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthfan/pseuds/anthfan
Summary: Post 5x17 fic





	

“It’s over for me. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m shutting everything down.” 

 

Oliver’s words still echoed in the space, long after Digg had coerced him to a chair where he sat unseeing, unmoving. If it wasn’t for the slight sway of his obviously exhausted body Felicity could have believed him a statue. 

 

And as she stared at him, arms wrapped around her middle, gripping the fabric of her shirt to physically keep herself from touching him she wondered if that’s all he was now. 

 

Plaster. A mold. Hollowed out. Giving only the appearance of a man. 

 

He didn’t flinch when Digg cleaned his wounds even though she knew the antiseptic stung fiercely. He didn’t move when needle and silk thread whipped through his skin closing the holes that had to have been left by arrows. He didn’t blink when the marred flesh where the Bratva tattoo had been was covered with pure white gauze. 

 

For half an hour Digg worked slowly and methodically, not pressing Oliver to speak, not questioning him about anything Chase had done even though the words were so thick in Felicity’s throat she thought she might choke on them with the lack of asking. 

 

Curtis sat a coffee at her elbow and gave her a supportive smile before nodding towards the elevator, somehow knowing that if anything else was going to come out of Oliver that night he didn’t need to be there. 

 

She was just as tense and on edge as she had been when Oliver had entered, perhaps even more so as her mind swept from one scenario to another. She’d seen Oliver after Tommy, and after Slade, and after Ra’s, but never had she seen him like this. 

 

Digg stepped away and for the first time she drew her gaze from Oliver, following him as he threw away soiled supplies and dug through the drawers until he returned with three vials. 

 

Oliver sat just as still as Digg gave him the injections, trying to cover the spectrum of disease and infection he could have picked up while he’d been held. 

 

With a long sigh Digg ran both hands over his head and walked backwards two steps to sit at Felicity’s left, both of them facing Oliver even though he didn’t seem to even know they were there. 

 

Felicity let out a shuddered breath, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses and that was when he finally moved. 

 

Oliver reached forward and plucked the frames from her face as she froze, one hand still hovering in front of her as she stared at him in shock. 

 

She didn’t dare speak, just let her hand fall to her lap. 

 

Carefully, almost reverently he folded each side in before gently holding the glasses in both hands, head bowed over them. 

 

“He took these.”

 

The air froze in her lungs, half shocked he’d spoken, and half confused to what he meant before she understood.

 

Digg reared back, cursing under his breath because he also knew exactly what Oliver meant. 

 

The third day he’d been missing she’d finally gone home to shower and sleep a few meager hours, forced there by Curtis who swore he wouldn’t leave the computers while she was gone. When she couldn’t find her glasses after she woke she chalked it up to her exhaustion and used her contacts even though she knew they’d kill her already tired and gritty eyes. 

 

Thirty six hours later when she’d been forced home again the glasses had sat right where she thought she’d left them. She remembered offhandedly mentioning it to Digg when she’d returned. 

 

But now as her gut swirled she thought that maybe she hadn’t misplaced them after all. 

 

“He took these. While you were there.” 

 

Fear and fury rose in a wave before they crashed back down low in her belly leaving her trembling and as still as Oliver. 

 

Without another word he stood with considerable effort and handed her the glasses back, deliberately not touching the fingers she’d held out reflexively. Then he shuffled down the stairs and disappeared into the shadows just as silently as he’d slipped in. 

 

The lair was quiet except for her ragged breaths, and the blood pounding in her ears until finally she turned, “John…”

 

He was still staring at the spot where Oliver had sat, looking forlorn and lost. 

 

“What did he do to him?” 

 

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully.

 

“He can’t be done. It’s  _ Oliver _ ,” she said with meaning, rising to her feet to take three quick steps down from the platform as if to follow him. 

 

“Felicity-” Digg began, now standing at the top of the stairs.

 

“He can’t be done. Chase doesn’t get to do this to him. It’s not fair. It’s not right. He’s done so--” the words got lost as her throat grew tight and she was forced to take a shaking breath.

 

“I don’t know what Chase did to him. I’ve never seen him like that. But if he was really done he wouldn’t have come back here.”

 

She looked up at him with imploring eyes, wishing with everything she had that what he was saying was true. 

 

“He loves you, Felicity,” he said, continuing to talk even when he saw her begin to respond, “He loves you. The only thing he said while he was here was about you. That means something. And it tells me that he hasn’t shut everything down yet.” 

 

With a long exhale she looked down at the glasses she still held in her hands, “Then how do we get him back.” 

 

Digg gave her a small smile, “We give him a little time to recover, and then you do what you do best.” 

 

Ruefully she shook her head, “We’re not like that anymore Digg, I can’t--”

 

“That’s not true and you know it. If anyone has a chance at getting through to him, it’s you.” 

 

She gnawed on her bottom lip, knowing that despite everything she and Oliver had been through Digg was right. She’d never stopped loving him. 

 

Felicity took one centering breath before carefully unfolding the frames and replacing them on her face. 

 

And with clear vision and an only slightly murkier mission she raised her eyes to meet Digg’s and nodded. 


End file.
